Tech Talks in CMMS
with Guest Mike Dier

Dan Roberge
All right. Mike Dier. So where are we today? What are we doing here?

Mike Dier
We're at the advantage Ontario convention, 2025. We're in Toronto.

Dan Roberge
Yeah. Have you come to the show a lot?

Mike Dier
I'm lucky enough to represent our long term care facility, Sherwood Park Manor out of Brockville. So this is my second year.

Dan Roberge
Okay. And so what do you do at your site?

Mike Dier
So at Sherwood, it's a little different than most long term care homes. I run the physio program. We actually have a full time physio program. Seven days a week.

Dan Roberge
Oh, wow.

Mike Dier
Really we practice that, physical exercise and healthy living into daily care, rather than a specialized program.

Dan Roberge
Okay. And so do you have a space where you do this? How big is the space there?

Mike Dier
Yeah. So right now we're cooped up in a little spot. And I think the silver lining there is that we're small, but we bring carts to different residents rooms, and we really manage those exercises based on their needs and where they're able to go within the home. It shows what we can do with small spaces. But looking actually, we're in redevelopment. So a brand new physio department, brand new physio room.

Dan Roberge
Okay.

Mike Dier
Big space. A lot of new tools.

Dan Roberge
Oh, wow. And so what are some of the benefits of what you do that the residents can benefit from when they go through your program?


Mike Dier
So great question Dan. So, actually it used to be we would assess any time a resident comes in, we would assess their needs for physio, and something would be deemed appropriate or not. And I've kind of thrown that book out, so everybody that comes in now receives some sort of service. We have cognitive deficit, or intellectual disability, I'm able to provide physiotherapy to lots of different demands, and lots of different needs. A big thing we see in long term care in our industry is falls. And, for a long time that's been negative. Falls are bad. I like to look at it from a, I guess, a positive approach. So falls tell me a lot about an individual, but the more individuals we have up moving, and movement is key. The event that a fall may happen is still likely to be there. So that just tells me areas I need to work on, balance and mobility, but that fear of falling as well, and getting people almost to the point of falling so that when they're in a busy situation, like in the dining room or or in resident lounge areas, they can manage that.

Dan Roberge
Right, okay. And so what kind of exercises did they do, and did they do that on their own afterwards? 

Mike Dier
I did give them a program. We again, breaking that stigma from long term care. We do have a lot of individuals that are in that senior population, but we do have some in an earlier population. They do exercises on their own.

Dan Roberge
Okay.

Mike Dier
Exercise classes normally run from 9 to 10 in the morning, and it's a little bit of a social club. But they do, funnily enough, my background is strength and conditioning. So, I was fortunate enough to work in the hockey world, with some professional athletes, and I bring the same skills to the long term care.

Dan Roberge
Wow. That's amazing.

Mike Dier
We're throwing med balls around. We're doing one leg bounce drills. Because I think in athletics, it's something we see all the time. But in daily living, we kind of throw out the balance exercises. And it's not until we start falling that we think, oh, I probably should have done these or joints and limbs hurt, and I probably should have done some range of motion exercises.

Dan Roberge
Yeah. Bring that back into how you're also seeing some kind of healthier residents that go through it, just kind of preventative maintenance wise.

Mike Dier
Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. So and that's where again, if I'm only looking at injuries or booboos, those individuals often get screened

Dan Roberge
Right.

Mike Dier
So really looking at how I can manage falls, how I can manage better health and movement. Again, breaking that stigma, a lot of times with long term care, we go, well, I'm here to decline with my health, and maybe my building declines there, too. We're hoping that we flip that. So we've actually had a number of individuals come in, maybe in more of a crisis situation where they're using lift transfer. They're requiring extensive assistance. Now they walk independently.

Dan Roberge
Wow. That's amazing. That's amazing. Does every home have a department like yours?

Mike Dier
So unfortunately not. We've been pretty creative in our funding and how we've how we've structured that at Sherwood. Unfortunately physios are hard to come by, and a lot of times, it has been a contract service. So if physios are in the area, they work at multiple different spots, which is fantastic. But the troubling part is that lack of consistency. So having a full time program in Sherwood, and we're housed there and, and that's kind of where we can fit in. We see these residents daily.

Dan Roberge
Yeah. Exactly. You get to know them and what their pain points are and so on. Well it's great talking to you. Awesome topic. I appreciate you talking to us.

Mike Dier
Hey thanks.

Dan Roberge
Awesome. Take care.